Britain’s universities fall in world rankings

BRITISH universities are slipping down the world rankings, with experts blaming the decline on pressure to admit more disadvantaged students.

Cambridge University, which for many years was ranked the best in the world and for a decade held a place in the top three, has now dropped down to fifth place, according to the QS World University Rankings.

Overall, 51 of the UK’S 76 institutions have slipped down in the rankings since last year. The Russell Group, which represents 24 of the UK’S most selective universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, saw 16 of its members drop down in the list.

Prof Alan Smithers, who is head of the centre for education and employment at the University of Buckingham, said that the decline was because “universities are no longer free to take their own decisions and recruit the most talented students”.

He said that, instead, universities had to meet “all sorts of requirements in terms of the ethnic mix, the levels of income of the students and whether they come from low income areas”. Under the current system, any English university wishing to charge tuition fees of more than around £6,000 must have an access agreement approved by the Office for Fair Access (Offa). This sets out what the university intends to do to recruit and retain youngsters who would not normally study for a degree.

Earlier this year, the higher education tsar warned that top universities must make more effort to accept poor students. Prof Les Ebdon, director of Offa, said that the argument used by admissions tutors that disadvantaged students’ grades are not high enough “just doesn’t hold water”, and criticised the Russell Group for suggesting that there is a limit on the numbers of poorer teenagers they can recruit.

Prof Smithers said Britain’s top universities are under pressure to recruit more disadvantaged students, and that this “has diverted their attention from really providing the subjects and fields that they feel are the most appropriate and drawing in the best students”.

QS ranks institutions according to six metrics: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty to student ratio, citations per faculty, the international faculty ratio and the international student ratio.